The River Styx
by Mal'Ra
Summary: Leo Potter-Black, Lord Peverell, is the chosen one, destined to strike down 'those who defy death.' What will he do when he finds himself in another world; one where no one knows 'The God Slayer,' and his half-brother is fates whipping boy? AU story which begins shortly after Sirus' death, sort of... May be some bashing, IDK yet. I wont be bashing Albus, but he won't be perfect.
1. The River

**Authors Note:**

**Firstly, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the content, characters, ect that exist within that world; It all belongs to people much richer then me.**

**With that out of the way I'd like to welcome you to my first ever Fan Fic and my first attempt at a story longer then 12 pages. I've written a lot of short stories because of punchlines i couldn't get out of my head, but this will be my first shot at a longer story.**

**Some of what follows will be a bit graphic, I started writing and the descriptions of some of the dark arts got away from me. I made up, and will continue to make up, a lot of spells and kinda got too creative for my own good.**

**Also the story wont get into the world you know and love until the second chapter. I planned on making the transition in this one, but i feel it flows better if i end it as is.**

**Hope you enjoy...**

Chapter One: The River

Shards of ice crystals and a cold mist stung Leos face as he dived through a heavy cloud on his Firebolt aerocycle. The sleek black and red body of the aerocycle looked like the bastard love child of a muggle motorcycle and a fighter jet, with a motorcycle styled seat and body honed to aerodynamic perfection and modified to house two short wings. The underside of the Firebolt resembled that of a fighter jet, complete with retractable landing gears. The frame was made from a lightweight goblin alloy, not as strong as their steel, but still remarkably more resistant then its human fabricated equivalent. The Firebolt was a top of the line aerocyclye, enchanted to be the best of the best in flight and stability, coming complete with an unbreakable breaking charm. It was largely considered the fastest cycle on the market, more then capable of shattering the sound barrier with ease; Which was good for Leo as it lacked the armaments of its military counterparts and he had a desperate need to escape at the moment.

Leo broke the bottom of the clouds and glanced back trying to spot his pursuers. Two Schwalbe 460 fighter cycles broke cloud cover hot on his tail, while three spiraled out of control, their riders dead or too injured to fly.

For a moment he let himself feel satisfaction before Leo swore and barrel rolled to his right just in time to avoid a spray of machine gun fire from the pursuer on the left and a sickly green killing curse from the one on the right. Leo responded with a high powered cutting charm over his shoulder before conjuring a field caltrops before his enemies.

The two remaining pilots weren't going to fall for the same trick that eviscerated half their unit in the clouds, and the wizard on the left banished the caltrops out of the way of him and his partner. This break from fire was all Leo was really aiming for though as it allowed him time to preform a complicated spell that called two bright bolts of lightning from the clouds above to strike his airborne foes. The clap of thunder was deafening, even through the sonic charms Leo applied to protect his ears at supersonic speeds, the explosion that followed as the bombs attached to the two cycles detonated even more so.

Leo was jarred in his seat and had to fight to re-stabilize his Firebolt and pull up from his dive. He leveled off among the streets of London and was forced to throttle down or risk smashing to bits when he turned at the end of the street. On lookers in the street below pointed up at him with exclamations of surprise at seeing him flying so recklessly and with no regard for speed limits or flight restrictions. Leo didn't care that he was breaking dozens of laws and flying so recklessly, he was a fugitive and a rebel, its not like he could be in _more_ trouble. Besides, he had a damsel to save and a fate to spit in the eye of, prophecy be damned.

As he weaved through buildings, diving and swerving around other fliers and blowing past the occasional blockade, Leo brooded on this mornings revelations.

He had awoken to a frenzied knocking on his door and the frantic calls of Xenophilius Lovegood beyond it. Rushing to admit the panicking man, Leo felt a growing feeling of dread upon seeing the mans tear streaked face.

"It's my Luna, she spoke another prophecy!" the man had wailed, clinging to Leo as if he were the only buoy in a tremulous sea, "You need to save her, _please_ you need to go!"

Leo experienced a sensation not unlike the effects of a dementor as his mind began to race, "What prophecy, where is she?"

"She left me a note, she told me not to open it until after her group returned from their supply run, but she didn't come back, please you have to help, shes all I have, if she, I don't, you _need_ to..." Leo back handed the ranting man before sizing his shoulders.

"_What _note, do you have it with you?" Leo shook the man as he shouted out his question, a note of panic entering his voice as well. Xeno nodded rapidly, drawing a crumpled note from the pocket of his patchwork cloak. Leo snatched it from the other mans hand and unfolded it quickly, reading its contents he paled before tossing it away and rushing to throw on his battle gear.

Leo was out the room in an instant, charging down the the stone halls of the resistance headquarters. Other freedom fighters and warriors called out to Leo as he ran, but he continued rapidly his mind on one thing; defying fate.

He reached the hanger in moments, but his sprint through the corridors did not go undetected and he was met with a small crowd when he got there.

"Leo," he turned his head to see Rose Snape, his wing woman and partner in crime rushing to his side. Her features were exactly like her mother Lilys, but with the jet black hair and eyes of her father Severus, "Whats going on?"

"Ya, wheres the fire!" Nathaniel Tonks, Leos cousin and the final part of their trio joined them by Leos firebolt as he mounted.

"Lunas been taken to the department of Mysteries, I'm going to get her back." Leo activated the cycles hover charm and prepared to jet out of the hanger, Nathaniels grip on his arm halted him.

"Not without us your not!" in a rare display Nathaniel spoke with none of his usual devil may care humor in his voice. Rose didn't speak, she just rushed to mount her Nimbus and pull up in line with Leo.

"You're not going at all." A strong cold voice called out from the entrance to the hanger. Leo turned in his seat to see Lord Gaunt, his mentor and gaurdian entering the spacious room, Xeno in tow.

"I have to go, Lunas in danger!" Leo replied with a rising anger for the rightful Minister.

"No, Lunas _doomed_, and if you go after her so are you." Lord Gaunt replied, "The prophecy was quite clear, and your too important to lose."

"Prophecy?" Rose asked from Leos side, sounding uncertain.

"Oh, did he not tell you he wants to fly you into a deathtrap to save someone _fated_ to die?" The minister stepped forward, drawing his wand as he walked, "He wants to risk the fate of the world over a teenage infatuation; No, I can not allow this."

"Go." Nathaniel released Leos arm and, drawing his wand, stepped towards the much more powerful and experienced minister.

"Nate!" Rose looked about to protest.

"_Go_," Nathaniel said louder, "prophecy or no prophecy, if there's anyone who can kick fates ass its Leo. Now go!"

"Thank you." Leo set off like a bolt of lightning. There was a momentary stall in his cycles magic as Lord Gaunt muttered an anti flight jinx, but Nathaniel distracted him long enough for Leo to wiz off out of sight.

"Leo," Rose called out to him as she came level to his right wing, comfortably flying closer then most professionals would dare, "What prophecy?"

Leo was brought back to the present by his arrival outside the bombed out ministry of magic. Its once mighty atrium had been blown open by Axis forces and though there had been little activity there over the past two years, it was currently surrounded by the muggle and magical forces of Grindelwalds army. They milled about like ants whos nest had been kicked, obviously aware of reports that Leo was in the area.

Landing stealthily upon a roof top down the street from the old ministry, Leo donned his fathers invisibility cloak and crouched low. He withdrew a pair of omnioculars from his bottomless courier bag and surveyed the entrance. Cycling through the view modes showed a powerful magical dome around the building, likely the old anti-apparition wards, as well as another smaller field around the hole in the roof which Leo suspected was a detection ward.

After carefully surveying the guards and wards about the building, Leo crept from the edge of the roof top and used his Firebolt to descend the far side of the building where he would be out of sight. He crept past the guards at the front gate as quickly as he dared, and drew a sigh of relief when he had passed without incident.

Once within Leo hastened his approach to the lifts, remembering the last time he had been here with Lord Gaunt, then Prime Minister Riddle, nearly three years ago. He passed the security desks where once he had joked with the guards he knew so well, but now he crept by soldiers with assult riffles and wondered if it would be wiser to put knives in their backs to ease his escape later. He did. Then there had been civilians and servicemen alike gawking at 'The Chosen One,' now he crept invisibly towards the same lifts he had been escorted to before, dispatching a patrolling wizard with a slash to the throat and a silent _scourgify_ to hide the blood evidence.

The lift brought Leo to the down to the department of Mysteries, where he marked the door he came through as he had seen his mentor do on their first trip down here. One spinning room and a short time later, Leo was walking through what was once the time room, before Axis forces had stripped it of all its research materials and time turners.

The hall of prophecy beyond was the only department not stripped of everything useful. The magics that protected the orbs within prevented any but the subject from withdrawing it's contents, so it had been left largely untouched. Of course, every spell has a counter, but no one had found one yet. With halls of prophecy in every major magical nation, all recording the same prophecies from around the world, the only reason to try and steal all the orbs from one would to be to rob a nation of access to them. Unless of course a small strike team of rebels from the country your currently occupying sneak into your capital and destroy your hall with 20 tons of C-4. Then you might want to do it to restore your shattered hall to some semblance of what it once was.

The question that stuck with Leo as he crept deeper into the hall was why? Not why the enemy was here, that would be due to the aforementioned op, but rather why bring Luna here? Was this just a trap set for 'The Chosen One,' or was there some deeper purpose to bringing a seer to the Hall of prophecy. While experience told Leo it was the former, his intuition was telling him it was the latter. It was just too... poetic, that a seer would predict her own death and be taken to the place where that prophecy would be stored, and if there was one thing Leo knew about magic it was that it loved this kind of poetry. That or his Black madness was playing tricks on him.

The time for contemplation came to an abrupt halt when Leo heard the sound of chanting from before him, "By the blood of the seer,"

Leo began to rush forward not liking the sounds of the ritual he was hearing, "by the air from her lungs,"

Leo reached an aisle down which the voice was coming. More then half way down the long aisle Leo could see Luna, her eyes blank as she stood with her bloody hand upon one of the orbs. Between them stood two wizards in the long red capes that marked Grindelwalds elite, behind Luna was one of the three men Leo hated the most in the world, Albus Dumbledore.

"By the soul that speaks fates decrees,"

"_Sectumsempra_, _Lacerovisera, Sanguis-Acidum, Sangus-Acidum!_" Leo launched a vicious spell chain at the two guards, who were taken by surprise by the invisible attacker. The left guard took the full brunt of His old potions instructors cutting curse, his face arms and torso seemingly sliced open by a storm of razors. The rightmost guard raised his shield _just_ a second too late and took an organ shredding curse to the chest but blocking the acid blood curse, forcing Leo to reapply it; he was dead before he hit the ground.

Albus however did not stop his chanting, merely flicking his gaze to Leo while he tried to finish his chant, "free the fates as I shall free her soul, as she has seen it so mote it be!" There was a hum all around him, "Avada..."

Leo banished the body of the second man towards Dumbledore, who stopped his killing curse mid spell to turn and banish the man back. However as Dumbledores banishing charm hit him the second man exploded in a rain of acid blood, his shredded and liquified organs allowing the acid blood curse to spread rapidly, turning the man into an acid filled balloon. Leo knew the effect in theory, but seeing its effects was something else entirely; sometimes he sickened himself.

Dumbledore didn't recognize the blood to be acidic but still tried to vanish it away, he was slightly too slow though and ended up passing his wand hand through the blood before it disappeared. The old wizard screamed out in pain and dropped his wand in shock, pulling his hand back to cradle it against his side.

Leo seeing an opportunity to possibly end the old goat let lose, "_Sectumsempra, cor-impedimentia, confringo!"_

Dumbledore was not one of the most feared wizards on the world for nothing however. He called his wand to his left hand and blocked the first two spells with little difficulty before conjuring a stone to block the blasting curse. The stone was shattered at which point the tricky bastard banished the shards back at Leo.

Leo transfigured the stone chips to ball bearings, which he caught in a magnetic shield designed to stop gunfire. He was about to return the volley when Dumbledore wrapped his injured arm around Luna, trapping her in the crook of his elbow against his body. Leo froze.

"Hello, Leo my boy," The old man greeted him as if they had run into each other at the park, the bastard knew how much it grated him, "glad you could make it, and you brought the cloak too, how thoughtful."

Leo knew Albus could sense him even under the cloak, but he also knew it took some of the old mans concentration to do so; meaning he couldn't put all his concentration into the spells he cast, making them weaker as a result. Thus Leo didn't drop the cloak, even if the goat knew where he was, "You know I can't resist a party Albus," Leo responded, his voice equally cheery despite his rage, just another trait of the black madness, he couldn't resist the repartee, "Wheres the husband, Gillert working late again?"

Albus' face turned stormy for a moment at the jab before the mask dropped in place again. Leo had learned in one of their mental battles, the literal kind where each tries to rip the others mind and memories to shreds, about Albus' unrequited love. It was Leos favourite piece of ammunition because it never lost its sting. "Didn't your mother teach you words could be hurtful Leo, that was quite unkind."

And there it was, the jab at Leos dead mother, the Ying to his Grindelwald barbs Yang. Leo felt his wand hand twitch slightly but it wasn't the time to attack, Albus still had Luna in the spell path. "My mother taught me all about how words hurt Albus, you know how much she liked crucio!" He shouted the spell but didn't cast it, instead sending a wordless summoning charm on Lunas robes, as one could not Accio a living thing.

Dumbledore responded as Leo had expected, he turned sideways behind his shield to make himself a smaller target. This loosened his hold on Luna enough that the blank faced blonde flew right into Leos waiting arms.

Realizing the ploy to late, Albus launched a string of silent curses at Leo, who responded with a clearly incanted, "_Protego Maxima_!" which shivered but held under the powerful wizards barrage.

Luna seemed to be under the effect of a confundus or possibly even an Imperio, so Leo found himself half carrying her as he retreated from the powerful wizard. Leo did his best to get the cloak around both of them, but was unable to hide them entirely, leaving Dumbledore free to focus entirely upon his spell casting and battering down Leos shields.

As they reached the end of the stacks Leo dropped his shield for a moment between Albus' spell chains, "_Vigilus Immortui, Sanguninus lamina, Protego!_" His first spell animated the remaining corpse to attack Albus, while the second would momentarily cause the pool of blood to leap towards the elder wizard in a hail of blood red daggers. Leo blocked two spells from Albus with his protego before his inferius gained the old mans attention.

Albus predictably went for his favourite whip of fire to deal with the Inferius, only to have to abort that when the daggers flew at him. When Albus released the whip spell to turn the daggers to mist, the Inferius lunged him and seized his acid burned arm, snapping the bone with its unnatural strength before Albus severed both the undeads arms and banished it away from him, finishing it off with an overpowered _incendo_.

By the time that was done, Leo had carried Luna away from the old mans line of sight and ducked down one of the aisles. With his cloak wrapped Around as much of Luna and himself as he could manage, Leo took care to ensure that anything not covered would only be visible from his front, not his back.

"Come now Leo," Albus seemed to speak from everywhere at once, "You know you can not hide from me. Hand over the girl, its for the greater good."

Leo bit back a retort, knowing the old coot was using that hated phrase to get a rise out of him and make him reveal his position. Rather then rising to the bait, Leo took this temporary reprieve to delve into Lunas mind, carefully unraveling the confundus and compulsions that clouded her mind. When he withdrew his mental presence Lunas eyes sharpened back to their usual alertness.

"Leo? Where..." He cut her of with a finger on her lips before he brought that same finger to tap his ear twice. Seeming to get the message she nodded to him.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood."

"_Protego_!" Leo whipped about, throwing up his shield just in time to stop a purple and yellow curse which hissed against his shield before extinguishing, "_Protego Maxima_!" His shield jumped in strength as a long spell chain of concussive, explosive, and piercing curses bore down on him. The chain was clearly intended to batter an enemies shields down and Leo thanked Lord Gaunt for his years of magical strength and endurance training.

Luna shifted Leos cloak to the side to access his courier bag. Withdrawing a handful of spare wands from the side pocket, Luna quickly found one that matched her best and returned the others before stepping to Leos side.

"Luna go, I'll hold him off." Her response was to shake her head while muttering a long complicated incantation in what sounded like an Asian dialect while weaving her wand and open hand in a complicated pattern. There was a sound like a crash of thunder before a thousand spectral horses appeared before her, rushing through Leos protego and stampeding towards a stunned Dumbledore with a force that shook the earth.

"_Now_, love, we run." Luna told him in her musical tone, always thick with the mischief of her Faerie ancestors. True to her words, she turned and sprinted away in her wonderful way that almost looked like a skip. She turned mid leap to look back and make sure he was following, backpedaling a step before she turned about again to face were they ran.

"You will _not_ escape!" all pretense of pleasantness was gone from the old sorcerers voice.

"You weren't supposed to come." Luna called back to him, a touch of sadness lacing her melodious voice.

"Merlin and Morgan couldn't keep me away." Leo responded as they came upon the door to the time room.

"You don't understand," Luna blasted the door open and ran past shelves that had once held time turners and other mysterious devices, "There was a forked prophecy, if you had stayed away you'd be safe, now..."

Her thought remained unfinished, as the door they were running to burst open to reveal the intimidating form of Gridelwald, resplendent in robes of midnight blue and silver, a well trimmed goatee and mustache framing his pleasantly smiling lips, "_Avada Kedavra._"

Leo called upon an old Peverell family magic and turned Luna and himself into a black mist, which swirled away from the curse that would mean death in any form and towards a door to the side of the room. When he reached the door his mistform slid under the crack at its base, emerging in a room that seemed like some kind of naturally occurring cave. He reformed and spun to face the door, throwing up a rudimentary ward a moment before the door shuddered with the force of a powerful blow.

"Leo," Lunas voice was soft and tinged with fear, "I saw this."

Leo didn't respond, a fear was rising within his own chest at the words. He knew this room, Lord Gaunt had spent countless hours in here before the invasion; studying the arch way, the Veil.

"Ah, the death room," Albus had somehow managed to reach the other entrance to the room, how he got there so fast, Leo did not know, "How fitting."

Leo dragged Luna into the cover of a boulder as Albus' wordless spells, gouts of flame and multicoloured flashes filled the air where they once were. Leo realized he should have tried to block instead as the impact of the spells upon the door he had just warded shattered his quickly erected protections. A moment later the door flew open and Grindelwald stepped through with a look of triumph on his face. True to form, the man never hesitated, "_Avada Kedavra_, _Avada Kedavra, acio._"

The killing curses were stopped by Leos two hastily conjured steel disks, which Luna banished back at the dark wizard while Leo resisted the tug of the summoning charm on his cloak. When he was wearing the cloak Gillert was the only one who could summon it, Leo was clueless as to why.

"_Fulmena Globus!_" Leo didn't recognize the Albus' spell but he recognized the latin roots and he could feel his hairs stand on end.

"_Fulmena Lancia!_" Luna incanted in response with a twist and flick towards Gillert, who was raising his wand to cast again. For an instant the air around Leo and Luna filled with electric flashes that Leo realized was an orb of lightning Albus had created, then from Lunas wand a stream of lightning speared forth, gathering Albus' electric charge and redirecting it into a spear towards Grindelwald. Leo could have kissed Luna for her brilliance when she turned the much more powerful wizards attack into a counter attack of her own, but now was not the time.

"_Draconis!_" Leo cast the spell towards the elder wizard that was attempting to turn Lunas electric stream away. A pair of Dragons the size of horses sprung into existence at the same time that Albus conjured a large lightning rod to assist his comrade. The dragons opened their maws and released great jets of fire to take the place of Lunas lightning as a distraction.

Leo and Luna dashed from behind the boulder that hid them from Albus to try for a new strategic location. Gillert slayed the two small dragons with little difficulty, and quickly joined Albus in blasting apart every piece of cover the teens attempted to take refuge behind. The Dark Duo stood out in the open, side by side as if taunting their outclassed opponents, who were forced to use every trick both tactical and magical they knew to survive.

A bandoleer of active grenades was captured and contained effortlessly within a orb of energy, a hail of enchanted gunfire was met with a chuckle and a steel wall from Albus. Leos Bottomless bag of tricks was quickly being exhausted; months worth of enchanted weapons, incendiary potions, and temporary shield arrays were depleted in minutes. All just to keep the two teens alive in the face of the most feared Duo on earth. Then...

"The parties started without me I see." Leo laughed out loud from behind the last of his shield bubbles when he heard the voice of his mentor, "Drop the wands and we may let you live." Standing in the doorway across the chamber from where Leo and Luna were backed into a corner was Lord Gaunt with the inner circle of the resistance.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, 'Shaq', stood to the ministers right, a gatling gun engraved with a runic array for cooling and recoil control held at his hip and pointed at the two older wizards. The giant of a man seemed quite taken with the enchanted weapons that most wizards scorned as tools for muggles and squibs. He had taught Leo to use and maintain a wide array of armaments and ordinances.

To lord Gaunts right was Lupin, no first name, the man was an animal; he had completely given in to his werewolf side and whether as a wolf or a man he had no qualms about tearing out an enemies throat when wands failed. Leo still felt sore remembering sparing sessions with the lycanthrope.

To Lupins side was Fenrir Greyback, former alpha. The eunuch was once public enemy number one but was tolerated now that Lupin had taken his revenge and made him the half man he was today. Fenrir was kept on a tight leash, but when let off it he was a one man wrecking team; it was a mystery how he grew more dangerous and aggressive now that he was ball-less.

Beside Shaq was Lily Snape, Charms and Defense master, dark arts expert, and spirit of vengeance. The woman was once never seen without a smile on his face, but after the death of her husband she had become a shell of her self, possessed by the thought of tearing Gilert apart; only her daughter Rose could bring a smile to her face these days. Her lessons in charms and defense had become brutal after Sev' passed away, like she thought that by pushing Leo as far as he could go she was indirectly striking at Gridelwald. She was clearly hoping her most hated foe would keep hold of his wand.

For a moment Lilys eyes met his, conveying a silent question. Leo shook his head once, watching his one time tutors face fall, before it twisted into a look of fury which she directed at the Dark Duo. Later he would tell her how Rose had taken fifteen fighters down with her, but that story would have to wait.

Behind lord Gaunt was Danniel Granger, SAS and the only muggle to ever be admitted into the inner circle. He was a mystery to Leo. He barely spoke and never showed any emotion, he just ate, slept, and lived for the war. He had been in charge of teaching Leo stealth, reconnaissance, and 'information gathering.' Leo still had nightmares about their 'teaching sessions' with captured enemy officers. Granger had explained that wizards could prepare mentally for a Cruciatus but that pliers and drills unnerved them. That had preceded the most sleepless night of Leos life.

"All three in one place," Gillert smiled warmly, "I love it when a plan comes together." The old spider flicked his wand and explosions rocked the ministry.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" the spell came from three wands at once. Gillerts curse dropped Shaq, who was off balance from the quake, before he twisted fluidly out of the way of Lilys. The final spell sped toward Lord Gaunt, who was pushed out of the way by Granger, who took the spell.

A second later there was utter chaos. The two Lycanthropes turned to face a group of ambushers in red cloaks led by the traitor Malfoy, while Lily, Lord Gaunt, Leo, and Luna rained spells down on the Dark Duos position between them.

The Dark Duo were of mixed reactions; Albus became uncharacteristically serious as he mounted a steadfast defense, while Gillerts smile turned predatory as he dedicated all his attention to an unmatchable offense, his trust in his partners defense absolute. The two were awe inspiring in their synchrony and power. They acted like they were of one mind; a sword and a shield wielded by a single master.

Even when joined by two of the most powerful magicals in England, Leo and Luna were only now _just_ overpowering the elder wizards. Lord Gaunt was considered one of the 'Great Seven,' the seven greatest magicals in the world, and Lily and would have a good chance of taking position eight, but their co-operation was nowhere near the level of the two they confronted.

Leo could sometimes anticipate his mentors strikes and compliment them with attacks of his own, but he had never formed a true master apprentice bond with the older man. Their co-operation was purely intellectual, not on the level of the seemingly psychic wizards before them. He also tried to sync his attack and defense with Lily, but the woman was fighting in a manner that was much more feral then usual. He could never tell when her feint would turn to a defense and when she was truly abandoning defense to get one extra strike. Lord Gaunt seemed to be in a similar position to Leo, except it seemed to fall to him to try and guard Lily when her reckless attacks left her wide open.

The battle progressed, pushing the Duo out of the center and towards one of the doorways to the death room, where the cross fire of spells on them was on a less obtuse angle. Meanwhile, the Duos flanking forces had pushed the lycanthropes back into the death room and diverted some of Lord Gaunts attention. Lupin summoned Shaqs gattling gun, but with the sheer number of enemies they were facing it was not doing much to turn back the tides.

Luna slowly inched towards Lord Gaunt and Lily, attempting to pick up the slack in their defense left by Lord Gaunts split attention. This left Leo to abuse his invisibility and strike at the duo and their reinforcements freely, while their counter attacks were limited to wide area spells due to an inability to pin point his location in the chaos.

However this shift in position resulted in the duo circling to the position previously held by Leo and Luna; reversing the original crossfire to the duos advantage. Soon Leo found himself joining Lord Gaunt, Lily, Lupin and Luna in a defensive position around the veil. Lily and Lupin carried with them many enchanted weapons and shield stones that Leo had, and took this opportunity to deploy them. They could all see that the end was drawing near, and if not for the battle holding his undivided attention Lord gaunt would surely be telling Leo 'I told you so.'

"Leo smoke out." Leo glanced at Lord Gaunt out of the corner of his eye before dropping his shield, launching a bone burning curse and raising a new shield again.

"We wouldn't make it out, I'm not fast enough to avoid them all."

"You are if you go alone." Luna put in with a determined edge to her voice.

"No." was Leos equally stubborn response.

"She's right," Lily put in between a string of some of the most complicated curses and charms Leo had ever seen, "You and Lord Gaunt are more important then the rest of us. Get out."

"I won't leave you all to die!"

Lord Gaunt hissed in anger, a string of what were undoubtedly curse words issuing forth in parseltounge. Leo wasn't a parselmouth but he thought he caught; idiot child, dead, listen, girl, and like I told you, between expletives Lord Gaunt had never taught him.

"Leo if you die for me I'll never forgive you." Leo could tell from her tone that Luna meant it.

"If I leave you to die I'll never forgive myself."

"Stay and we all die, leave and we can avenge her! Come!" With one last command the other Peverell descendant turned to a black mist and shot up into the air, weaving around the curses that could harm him and ignoring the rest on his way to the door.

The loss of the powerhouse was felt immediately by the strain on their defenses. Not a single offensive spell left the group as they dedicated their power to self preservation.

"Go!" Lily shouted dropping her shield to conjure a large stone, stopping a killing curse a few feet from the group.

"Leo..." He didn't see who fired the banisher, but it zipped through the temporary gap in Lilys defenses and struck Luna on her side, knocking the air from her lungs and interrupting her plea.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for Leo. Luna became airborne, twisting as she lifted from the ground and flew towards the veil. He might have shouted something, he wasn't sure, but when she passed through the misty white gateway Leo felt like all the air had left the world. He lunged after her, not caring about the gap he left in their defenses.

Something tugged on his invisibility cloak, but Leo was moving too fast and the near liquid cloak, smoother than silk, slipped their grasp. In a moment Leo was through the veil, a reductor destroying the archway behind him.

There was a sensation almost like walking through a spider web, as if a thousand near intangible silken threads were drawn across every inch of Leos skin. The sensation lasted just a moment, but it made Leos skin crawl. When it passed it was replaced by a painful tugging in his chest, as if someone slipped a fishhook under Leos iconic lightning bolt scar and was trying to reel him in. The pain made Leo stagger but years of fighting through worse kept him on his feet. The next sensation that Leo experienced was crushing the sound of countless, discordant, ethereal voices, as if the whispers from around the veil had turned to shouts.

Leo had stepped into a world of bright whites and greys. A forest of white barked elder trees with grey leaves and shining white flowers spread to his left and right, lining the bank of a whitewater river which churned violently as its waters rushed past.

The cacophony was so loud that Leo couldn't even hear himself think, but when he called out, "Luna!" his voice was more... real; so much so that it made the others sound like the whispering mice.

"Leo?" Luna voice held a sad quality that broke Leos heart.

"Luna, I'm here where are you?" Leo reached to pull off his cloak before he realized it was no longer invisible, further where it was once silver it was now a deep black that seemed to pull in the bright light around him.

"Leo," the spectral form of Luna drifted towards him from out of the river, "you shouldn't be here, you need to go."

"What do you mean, where are we?" Leo reached out to pull Luna to him but she stepped away from him, seeming to float. A feeling of dread began creeping up within him, like the icy aura of a dementor, except this came entirely from with.

"You know where we are," Luna scolded him lightly, "you know I hate when you ask stupid questions."

Leos mouth had gone dry and his words scrapped in his throat like sandpaper, "We're in the veil... we're dead."

Luna gave him an odd look, as if he had said something confusing, "You really don't know?"

"Now who's asking stupid questions?" Leo quipped weakly, trying and failing to inject his trademarked humor into his tone.

"Well your half correct; I _am_ dead," Luna cocked her head to the side as she looked at him, "but you're not. You're ancestors cloak protects you."

"My cloak?" Leo looked back at his now quite visible cloak, "how does an invisibility cloak protect me?"

Luna shook her head, "Not _an_ invisibility cloak, _the_ invisibility cloak, the one that came before all others. It's not like all the imitations because when you're wearing that even death cant see you."

"You mean like in the fairy tale, The Tale of The Three Brothers?" Leo asked, thinking back to the days before his parents died. His mother wasn't the type to tell bedtime stories, but she had a soft spot for that one, she would tell it with excitement in her voice and a manic gleam in her eyes; though truthfully she had done _most_ things with a manic gleam in her eye.

"Yes, but it isn't just a fairy tale. The brothers in that story were the Peverell brothers, and your cloak is one of their deathly hallows." She paused to look at him oddly again, "No one told you?"

"Who would have told me?" the moment he asked the question he realized it was a stupid one, "Wait, you mean Lord Gaunt don't you?"

Luna nodded, "He came to my father asking about the Hallows years ago. He had found Grindelwalds symbol in an old Peverell journal and wanted to know what my father knew about it. My father told him the story and explained that he thought it was about the Peverell brothers. After that he took you to claim the headship of the Peverell family; we thought he told you."

"I never heard a thing about it, till now." Leo shook his head, "He told me the prophecy, and he never tried to take the cloak, why wouldn't he tell me?"

"I don't know but..." Lunas head snapped to the side and she surveyed the forest wearily, "You have to go, leave here."

Leo followed her gaze and saw a figure in a black cloak like his own striding towards them. In its feminine hand was a foot long helve topped with a wicked blade, like that of a German war scythe, that was half again that length. The figures other hand was almost skeletal it was so thin and bony, and it held a lantern that swung on a short chain, filled with a silver flame.

"Who..."

"It's Death. Leo, you need to go, If she catches you..."

"Death? She?"

"Yes Leo, focus." She snapped her fingers to draw his eye, "You need to go back to your plane before she realizes your not one of hers."

"On..."

"The dead," she answered before he could ask, "go now, I don't want to see you until your old and have stories to tell me about your dozens of grand kids."

Leo hesitated as he looked into her tear filled eyes. He was possessed of the sudden urge to toss off his cloak and just let himself be taken, but she seemed to sense his thoughts, "On the life debt you owe me, you will never just let yourself die! Your not allowed to give up do you hear me!"

Leo flinched, he always did when he got her angry enough to yell about something. He felt that calling on the life debt was a low blow but he couldn't deny the request after his magic deemed it acceptable. One absolute command, that was all she had ever, _would_ ever, asked of from the debt, whats more it was a command to save his life once more, and so he was compelled to obey.

"Luna?" the one word conveyed an ocean of sorrow

His body turned against his will to survey the gate at Leos side. The archway was empty, the connection on the other side no longer active. For a moment he tasted victory, before his body turned on its own and spotted another archway across the river; a spirit ejected from its misty opening, flying swiftly into the churning waters. A passenger in his own body he began to run.

"Luna, _please_!" he couldn't stop running up river, but he could turn his head enough to see her watching him. She wasn't alone.

"Don't do it cause it's easy," She called out to him, her tears flowing freely, "do it cause it's worth doing."

Luna turned from him then, turned into the waiting arms of Death. The cloaked woman swept Luna up in her arms almost comfortingly, like a mother would her child. Then Leo lost sight of her as he reached to edge of the river. His body forced his sight to the edge of the embankment, where the grey grass of the washed out world turned to black gravel and sand. His wand moved on its own to conjure a bridge across the rapids, which up close he could see was a torrent of wailing souls, and the source of the cacophony that assaulted him.

He managed to force himself to look back as he crossed the river. Death was looking right at him, the gaze made his heart jump in his chest. She released Luna from their embrace and swept around her, moving rapidly towards the bridge. She reached it as Leo made it across and his body began to run towards the archway before him.

"Where are you son of Peverell?" it was not a voice, it was an angles choir speaking in perfect harmony, "again you tread where you do not belong."

Leo had reached the other archway and managed to force himself to pause once more. This compulsion was stronger then an imperious as it came from his own magic, but his will was iron, and he just wanted _one_ last glance. He turned his head, and was face to face with death.

Within shadows of her hood a pair of golden eyes stared out at him. Her face was frightening, one half too beautiful to be human, the other boney and fleshless like that of an inferius; but yet somehow even the undead side held a twisted reflection of its mirrors beauty. That face held a triumphant smile, one which only curled the lips of the living side, "You can hide _your_ soul, but not the other!"

Her hand swept up and bore back down swiftly with its wicked blade, but Leo was already leaping away. Once more something tugged at his cloak as he approached the veil, but this time it was the drag of a scythe as it tore into his cloak. The blade caught in the fabric and twisted from its owners grasp as Leo again felt the sensation of a thousand silken threads on his skin.


	2. Familiar Faces

**Authors Note:**

**Firstly, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the content, characters, ect. I do however own nothing, any one else claiming to own 'not'ing be a lia' 'nd a t'eiff'**

**This chapeter is another short one, I'm in the middle of a move so it took a while to get even this done. I plan on updating on weekends from now on and the chapter will get longer as we get past the intro and into the flow of things.**

**Thanks to those who followed or reviewed,**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter Two: Familiar Faces

Leos emergence from the veil was less then elegant, his foot caught on the uneven ground and he barely kept from falling flat on his face. His left knee impacted the ground hard as he fell into a kneel, causing Leo to issue a hiss of pain.

The sounds of combat jolted Leos mind back into battle readiness. His head whipped up and he raised his wand, a protective spell on the tip of his tongue before he froze in confusion. Where were the bodies, where was the swath of devastation from the monumental clash between four of the greatest magicals of his age?

Sure there were wizards and witches exchanging spell fire in the chamber around him, but the confrontation looked like a small skirmish; definitely not the titanic, fate deciding, clash he had left behind. Witches and wizards in black robes and skull like masks fired curses at their civilian clothed counterparts. The civilians returned fire with stunners, impediment jinxes, and other non-lethals. Only one side was playing for keeps but it appeared that side was quickly being over come.

"Albus, where are you going?" Leo snapped back at attention at the sound of his foes name.

"After Harry." The old man responded, swiftly departing through the door that minuets ago was clogged by Axis reinforcements. Something felt off about the whole situation, but Leo pushed the thought away, replacing it with thoughts of revenge.

Leo stood, noticing a clattering sound behind him that came from the action. He gazed back and noticed a gleaming silver blade caught in the torn back of his ruined invisibility cloak. His cloak was returning to sight, its invisibility fading in a slow wave radiating from the slash, its silvery fabric being revealed in the wake of this wave.

His first reaction was to be upset at the loss of a family heirloom, but not a moment later it struck him that deaths _fucking scythe_ was an arms length away. Leo snatched up the blade, feeling a rush of warmth from it as he had from his first wand, before he again set his mind on the man who had instigated Lunas death.

Albus was already out of sight so Leo rushed towards the door, intent on catching him. His cloaks magics finished fading, becoming entirely visible a few feet before the archway, so Leo swept the ruined garment off to give him more mobility and stuffed it and the scythe into a pouch of his bottomless bag as he ran.

He reached the circular room just in time to see the door to the lift hallway slam shut. The room began to spin and when it stopped Leo was frustrated to note that the mark he had left on the correct door had been cleaned away.

It took three tries to find the right door. After running the length of the hallway to the lifts, Leo was at the end of his patience. Rather then waiting for the lift to come back down he turned to black mist once more and slipped up the shaft like a specter.

He exited the shaft back in the ministry atrium, where Leo was again struck still with confusion. The atrium was undamaged, its high ceiling complete and unblemished, its polished floors no longer littered with debris.

Whats more, Leo saw a black robed man raise his wand to launch a Killing curse at... '_me?_'

That's certainly what it looked like at first. A longer inspection would show the other boy to be slightly shorter, but broader then Leo. Both would appear to have similar faces, but Leos cheek bones were higher and his chin was slightly more pointed. Both had their respective mothers eyes; Leos were violet where the others were emerald green.

A golden statue lept from the fountain of magical brethren to intercept the curse with its bulk. Leo took one step forward to back up... himself, but stopped when the snake faced man spoke in an oddly familiar cold voice, "Dumbledore."

Why did he feel he knew that voice?

Leo followed the mans gaze to a set of golden doors to Leos left. Albus stood there, his face stormy as he held his wand at the ready. Snake face, fired another killing curse at Albus, who apparated out of the way as if he wasn't under some of the strongest anti-apparition wards in England. He reappeared on the far side of his attacker, waving his wand at the fountain to animate a golden witch.

The witch lept from its plinth and gave Leo a second shock to his psyche when it rushed a phantom of his past, "Mum?"

She was more gaunt then he remembered, her hair was untamed and her clothing seemed to hang off her emaciated form, for a moment he thought she could be someone else. Then she cackled madly and he knew for certain it was her; she'd completely lost it, but it was her, Bellatrix Potter, the one he had to thank for his inherited creeping madness. _Morgan_ his family was dysfunctional.

The how and why of the situation fled his mind when the statue made to grab his mother. Leo reacted without thought, resuming his mist form and sweeping across the atrium to plant himself protectively before the startled witch.

Gold was a major issue for most magicals. It was resistant to a wide range of magics, could not be conjured, nor could it be permanently duplicated. Gold was non-magnetic and thus could not be manipulated by a magical magnetic field, making it a popular ingredient in anti-mage ammunition. It also had a range of other annoying properties that left Leo with few options for dealing with such a statue. He was honestly surprised that Albus had animated them all so _easily, _but now that the magic was within it the golden figure would hold that magic even better then it repelled magics from outside. Thus rather then preforming some elegant feat of magic upon the golum, he fell back on the rather barbarous method of conjuring boulders to banish into it.

The fact of the matter was that no matter how resistant to magic gold was, it was incredibly soft. Three good sized boulders deformed the statue to the point that its still animate form couldn't properly move its arms or legs.

"_Potter_?"

Leo Transfigured the boulders into a wall for cover before spinning to face the woman he had watched die. For a moment he stared into violet eyes identical to his own, the face that held them twisted into a mask of shock. He was unaware of how closely it matched his own.

It was imposable; he had seen her killed. Osiris had stolen his parents from him ten years ago but yet... here she was.

A titanic crash from the far side of the wall reminded him of the two powerhouses clashing behind him. He had no time for this, he'd analyze later, "Go, I'll meet you at Ravens Croft."

She seemed to snap out of her state of confusion, "The dark lord..."

"_I'll_ deal with Dumbledore." She looked confused, then as if she where about to object, but he cut her off, "I've trained for this mum, just _go._"

She looked utterly lost for a moment before her face became angry. Leo felt her push against his mind harshly but rather then deny access he pulled her in. He showed her the truth of his statement through memories of some of his training, flashes of his recent duels against wizards many times his age, and he pushed to impress on her his determination through flashes of emotion rather then memory. Then he cleared his mind save for one memory, "Run_, _he'll have to get trough _me_."

He had not realized that the woman could have grown _more_ pale but somehow she did. She swayed slightly, looking as if she might faint, "You... I..." her gaze drifted past him as if trying to see through the wall he had erected for cover. Suddenly her eyes took on a sharp gleam "Ravens Croft?"

Leo nodded in response, "The obelisk."

"Hmm..." His mother nodded back to him with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face, before sprinting across the atrium to disappear through one of the many fireplaces. Leo watched to make sure she got to safety before peaking from his cover to face the two titans.

The wizards were engaged in a struggle of monumental magics, conjuring and destroying objects to attack and defend with deft flicks of their wands, firing off cruses and counter curses in a deadly parody of jugglers exchanging knives.

The Snake man sent forth conjured knives and serpents, amongst a hail of curses that were more then just dark; rather they were the apex of evil, the kind that did not just kill for utility, but for the caster to draw pleasure from the act.

Albus replied with transfigurations, counter-transfigurations and animations, that bought him extra time to prepare archaic spells and elemental furies. There was something odd about the way Leos old adversary fought, as if he was stalling for time, holding all his nastiest curses in reserve for a final push. Probably stalling for Grindewald to arrive and turn the tides.

Leo hesitated to throw himself directly into the fray. His burning desire for vengeance warred with his knowledge that he had exhausted his bag of quick tricks. Normally his cloak lent him an edge against the older, more powerful wizard, but it had been destroyed by the scythe. Albus seemed to have healed his right arm from Leos earlier surprise attack, and the use of Albus' dominant hand would lend even further to the older wizards advantage. Which would normally mean Leo would try to force an indirect battle; a cat an mouse game where the positions of hunter and hunted were fluid and changing as they avoided or fell victim to each others traps. At the moment however, Albus was locked in combat with snake face, and that complicated things.

The snake faced man was an unknown element. The wizard was easily within the skill and power level of one of the seven, yet he seemed to have come from nowhere. The dark horse was throwing around spells that made Leos skin crawl, the kind of spells that could have a soldier tried for war crimes. He was clearly an evil entity, but he stood against Albus, and Leos vengeful mind latched onto that idea. What was it the Lord Gaunt used to say, 'the enemy of my enemy' and all that.

Leo made a split decision, he ignored the creeping sensation of icy spiders crawling across his skin and decided to lend his power to the snakes assault. With Albus distracted Leo would have time for some battle field magics less suited to a direct duel. He withdrew from his bag a collection of vials, each filled with blood from different sources; dragon blood would do nicely for this.

"_Corrogo_ _calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus,_" Leo popped the cork from the vial and poured its contents on the ground while he chanted. Much more blood then the vial should have held flowed forth, the magic of the vial willing it into a perfect circle.

"_Corrogo_ _calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus,_" he could feel the magic building as the dragons blood evaporated into the air.

"C_orrogo_ _calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus,_" He stepped out from cover as the rituals magic reach it climax, only to have to avoid a vicious purple and black spell from the snake, so much for enemies and friends, "_deuro mea hostis;_ _Incaendium!_"

The fire that left his wand was a living thing, the predecessor to the modern spell fiendfire, this wildfire was an avatar of destruction, Leos wrath made manifest. The fire erupted forth with an angry roar, it was powered by the heat and oxygen the ritual gathered, the dragons blood gave it form, and the magic he had gathered up would sustain it. Its draconic form sped toward the two battling wizards, growing in size as it consumed the excess magics of their battle. The issue with the spell was that Wildfire consumed _everything_ and was utterly uncontrollable; unless you where a black.

"_Faefire._" The Second spell was one his ancestors had toiled generations to develop and his mother had completed in her last months, he had found it in the last pages of her personal Grimoire. The fae fire spell was intended to be a counter to the fiend fire spell, it would contact the fiend fire and wrestle control of the spell from its caster; Leo had found it would lend control to the ritualistic precursor to the famous hell fire.

Albus responded to the wildfire as one might fiendfire, by summoning to himself a torrent of water from the golden fountain, and charming it to resist evaporation. Unbeknownst to Albus, wildfire didn't just evaporate water, but rather separated it molecularly, feeding off the oxygen and hydrogen to grow hotter. The charm kept the water from vaporizing and slowed the process of decomposition by reducing the available surface area, but still only slowed the rate of the fires growing strength.

The Snake attempted to capitalize on Albus' distraction, but after his first curse broke the old mans concentration he recognized his colossal mistake. Leo had to give the man credit for his ability to prioritize, as the snake turned from his heated duel to put up an allied front against the ever growing flame.

Leo simply laughed. He might not have expected The Snake to know not to feed more magic to the spell, but he thought Albus would smother the spell after a few moments. Yet somehow what had been intended to provide a distraction was quickly growing to look like a killing blow as both his foes fed magic to the beast in an attempt to control it; as if they thought it fiend fire. Albus had stopped this spell countless times, his actions now were utterly bizarre.

It took a surprisingly short time for the magics to grow to powerful for Leo to stop himself. He felt control slipping as the magic of the blood sacrifice became insufficient to contain the power of the spell and it began to lose its shape. The heat from the fire melted the floor of the atrium and caused the wards that protected the ministry from fire to cry out and fail. It was by the smallest of margins that Leo held the fire under his command. He emptied his mind of all distraction and let only the fire exist, Leo felt his magic sing in concert with it, he let its flickering dance sweep him up in its rhythm. It was only with this absolute focus that the fire remained his to control.

The snake faced man tried to flee, but Leo flicked his wand in the direction of the mans flight to hold him at bay. Albus tried to circle the flames, but Leo gave his wand a twirl and the fire licked out to try and consume him. The two were utterly trapped, soon they would burn and Leo would have his revenge, soon the two would...

There came a beautiful song. One moment there was just the sound of fire singing of his coming vengeance, and the cackling of his laughter, then there was something more. A melodious and powerful sound the calmed his heart and that, just for a moment, lifted the wight of the world from his shoulders. The pain of the sorrow he held behind his mental shields was dimmed, as if old wounds were scaring and fresh one scabbing over. It was bliss, and in that bliss the vengeful thoughts that gave his flames form weakened.

Then he felt the wild fire ripped from his control as if he were a child playing with a thing for adults. The great inferno imploded, pulling upon his body and causing him to slid a foot forwards.

Where the blaze once burned floated a magnificent phoenix.

Leo blinked in surprise. He was no longer laughing.

The phoenix soared over to Albus and alighted upon his shoulder, as if he wasn't an affront to everything that was good and just.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" the snake man spat angrily.

Leo rolled on instinct, coming up to return fire with a "_Terebero!_"

His blue and white boring spell hit only air as his target twisted and seemed to become enveloped by his cloak. The cloak flew through the air to land before one of the fire places, taking the shape of the snake man once more.

"You will pay for challenging me boy!" The man practically hissed, before stepping into the green flames of the floo network.

The man had retreated from the battle field, leaving Leo to turn his full attentions on the old bastard. Albus regarded him with icy eyes and a puzzled frown. Leo had expected Albus to strike immediately but he just stood with his wand at the ready and a _phoenix_ of all things on his shoulder.

"Halt, Aurours!" Leo noticed with a start that there were others in the atrium. How long had they been there? Since when did England have an Auror force again? It was unimportant now, all that mattered was that he escape before they closed the floo.

"I'll avenge her you bastard, I'll make you watch Gillert _Burn_!" Leo shouted to his most hated foe before assuming his mistform and sweeping in a high arc towards the nearest fireplace. He ignored the scarlet light of the stunning spells, which merely gave him a tingling sensation as they passed through him and swerved to avoid impact spell, which could divert his course. Leo was slightly surprised when he reached the fireplace without any truly harmful curses coming his way, but he filled it away as an oddity.

"Stop..."

"Diagon Alley!" Leo disappeared through the floo, as soon as he emerged at the leaky cauldron he apparated away to three random locations from his past, ending his trip with a final jump to a location before a pair of rusted iron gates.

The days events had left him exhausted, and now that the battles had ended he wanted nothing more then to collapse in a heap, but he knew he couldn't just yet. A few quickly cast spells distorted his latest apparation trail. In theory he should have lost any pursuers, but for the sake of safety Leo disillusioned himself before proceeding past the rusted gates towards the ruins of Ravens Croft beyond.

Ravens Croft had once been the Manor of the Black families primary line, before a duel for succession between twin Black sons ended in Fiend Fire devouring the building. The duel had ended in the elder twin and all his children burning to death, but he used his own life and those of his kin to curse his brothers line to madness and prevent anyone from raising another building on the land. It was now only used for the grave yard that held the bones of generations of Blacks.

That duel had happened more then three hundred years ago, and though the curse had weakened, its magics still tugged at his mind. Here at Ravens Croft that pull was stronger, and it effected any who so much as thought of using the land for more then laying the dead to rest. The Black family taught its children occlumency from a young age to combat the curses lingering effects, despite the developmental issues that such training caused to a young mind.

Leo heard whispered voices all around him, felt the scurrying of spiders upon his skin, saw shadows twist and sneak _just_ at the edges of his vision, and he _knew_ he was being watched. He cleared his mind and the sensations ebbed away slowly, but did not disappear. They never disappeared here.

He walked quietly up to what had once been the front doors. Beyond the scorched archway the ancient blood wards on the property still functioned at their peak efficiency. No one besides a Black could enter further then the doorway without invitation, and only a black could safely cast spells within its boundary. He dropped his illusion once he was safely inside.

It took Leo a short time to pass from the doors to the old ritual chamber, where a large obsidian obelisk loomed to the left side, radiating malevolent energy. This had been the room the Blacks had once used to preform all manner of ritual, from simple rituals to bring luck or health, to great rituals to power enchanted objects. Its final use had been to cast the Black curse, and the spot was now so steeped in dark energies that to call on magic here would result in the shredding of ones mind.

"Who are you?"

Leo spun to face his mother, a broad range of emotions passing through him all at once. He wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream at her and ask where she'd been, but mostly he just wanted to pull her into a hug and never let go; The ritualistic knife she pointed at him held him back from that last action.

"It's me, Leo," She eyed him suspiciously, without recognition on her face, "You don't recognize me?" His control was admirable but he couldn't keep the hurt from his voice, he was much too tired for that.

"I don't know any Leo." He flinched as if struck, could he have been wrong, could she be someone else, or an imposter, "Where did those memories come from, the ones I saw in your mind."

"I... I don't understand." Leo wasn't sure if he was answering her question or just vocalizing his confusion and hurt.

"The _memories_!" She screeched at him angrily with a note of fear creeping into her tone, "Who created those memories for you, who told you about Ravens Croft!"

"No one _created_ the Memories, they were all real," Leo was too tired for this kind of emotional turmoil, his occlumency shields were threatening to fall as the events of the day attempted to crash down on him. "and it would be hard not to know about this place when half my family was buried here."

"_Liar_!" Leos excellent reflexes let him catch his mother backhanded slash before any damage could be done, he did not however expect what came next, "Legilimens!"

A mental assault so near the obelisk was sheer madness, it was so unexpected that Leos weakened protections buckled near instantly. Memories swam before his vision unbidden, pouring to the surface of his mind faster then he could follow before being swept aside by the torrent that followed.

The years of his life seemed to play in reverse before his eyes. He saw his confrontations today pass by in a blink. Two years of underground resistance and guerrilla warfare were compressed down to a couple of raged breaths. He saw friends and enemies alike die again on the day Lucius dropped the island wards to allow the Axis into the the heart of London.

He was once more he was training with the best Masters available to him, watching himself regress eight years from the talented and powerful young man he had become, to the vengeful and driven child that ducked assassination attempts and struggled to grow strong enough to fight back, and finally back to the angry and frightened child who cried himself to sleep and cursed Osiris for the deaths of his parents.

The memories slowed when they reached that horrible night of October 31st 1985. He had been so happy just to be able to tag along to a grown up party with his mum and da. Minister Riddle was always so nice to him and never spoke to him like he was a just a little kid, he was five years old and wasn't a baby any more. The manor looked spooky with jack-o-lanterns floating around the grounds and giant bats sweeping through the darkened air. Leo was so excited he could burst.

Leo had fallen asleep, he couldn't remember when, he just knew it was sometime after greeting the minister and before the Samhain chants started for the year. When he awoke it was to chaos. The manor was on fire and people were running and screaming trying to escape. The near trampling he received was a fragmented memory of heat and light, pain and noise.

He was entirely unsure about how he made it outside, but when he did Riddle and his Da were fighting a bad man he'd seen on the TV. The man was dressed like an old egyptian Pharaoh, with a wand like a shepherds crook and a flail that launched sickly cutting curses with each swing. Leo could only watch as Riddle fell to a nasty volley from the flail and his Da fell in a sickly flash of green light.

The man turned to look at him with golden eyes set in pitch black orbs, they made Leo tremble and want to cry. The man raised his wand to attack Leo, but suddenly his Mum was before him with his aunty Cissy holding the bad man back. His mother yelled something, the only words he remembered of the whole night, "Run_, _he'll have to get trough _me_."

His aunty Andi scooped him up from behind and tried to run but there were strange men with dog like masks on their heads that circled them and stopped them from getting far. Leo remembered with painful clarity the orange and violet spell that struck his aunty Andi and caused them both to fall to the ground. The feeling of utter terror when his aunty Cissy dropped the the ground bleeding from her neck and face, his own terror mirrored in her dying eyes. His mother shouted bad words at the man who was tearing Leos life apart and all he could do was scream when the green light took his mother too.

Then the man turned to Leo and for a moment everything was green, and the next he awoke being carried through a hospital by Minister Riddle, the man who would become his guardian, the man he would learn was not so nice, the man who would help him become a weapon.

Leo felt the connection to his mind snap as the forceful recollection caused his magic to flare angrily. This was a mistake, he shouldn't be here, not now, not when he was too weak to defend himself. "_Into the Mist!_" the portkey built into his signet ring activated and whisked him away.

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Returns!_

_In a brief statement given Friday night the Minister of Magic Conelius Fudge confirmed that He-who-must-not-be-named has returned to the country and is active once more._

"_It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself as lord... well you know, is indeed alive and walks among us once more," Fudge told reporters at a press conference held in the very atrium in which you-know-who was spotted, "It is with equal regret that I inform you that the dementors of Azkaban have left ministry employ and are believed to be under orders of he-who-must-not-be-named."_

"_We urge [the public] to remain vigilant. The ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defense, that will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming months."_

_The ministers statements were met with alarm and dismay from the wiazarding community, who until recently had been assured that by the ministry that "there [was] no truth whatsoever to the rumors of you-know-whos return."_

_While details of the incident within the ministry last Thursday are still under investigation, our sources within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement have revealed to us that rumors of an unknown teens involvement in the repelling of he-who-must-not-be-named do hold a grain of truth._

"_While we have yet to identify the young man, we do know that he assulted both you-know-who and Albus Dumbledore with a class A restricted spell before fleeing the scene." Our source tells us, "we are searching for the individual in question but our primary focus at this point is apprehending he-who-must-not-be-named."_

_The mystery individual has been noted to share a striking visual similarity to Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived..._

"There you are Harry, I knew they'd drag you into this somehow." Hermione peered over the paper to at him, trying and failing to hide a slight look of concern for how he was taking things.

They were gathered together in the hospital wing listening to Hermione read aloud the sunday edition of _the prophet._ Harry sat at the foot of Rons bed, across from Ginny who was curled up at the foot of Hermiones. Neville sat in the chair between the beds, occasionally sniffing through his now unbroken nose, while Luna sat on the ground apparently reading an inverted copy of _The Quibbler._

Ron was grumbling again about the sudden turn around in public opinion about Harry but he was currently ignoring the other boy. It wasn't out of spite but simply because he had heard the same grumblings over the past three days and had already come to terms with how fickle public opinion could be during the Tri-Wizard fiasco.

"Harry?" he looked up to see Ginny gazing at him intently, "do you think what the prophets saying could be true, do you think he could really be..."

"My relative." Harry finished for her when she teetered off, "I don't know. I mean, he did look a lot like me, but..." He shrugged.

The boy from the Atrium was almost as hot a topic as the return of Voldemort at this point; Harry suspected it was because people just wanted _anything_ else to talk about. A special evening edition had run on Friday with a picture taken of the confrontation. The other boy was seen cackling madly while a great conflagration poured from his wand towards Dumbledore and Voldemort, only for the flames to disappear and be replaced by Fawkes a moment later. Voldemort raised his wand to attack the boy before the image looped around to play again. The title had read "Boy-who-lived attacks you-know-who and Dumbledore!"

It was only in yesterdays printout that the statements from that article were retracted, and Harry found the front page to hold a picture of him from the Tri-Wizard tournament next to a picture of the other boy under the Title, "The Other Potter?"

Since it had been pointed out that it was _not_ him, people let their imaginations run wild. This other boy had been called his brother, his twin, his time traveling father _and_ his time traveling son, a muggle born seventh year even suggested he could be Harrys evil clone.

Rita Skeeter had even dug up that Harry lived with his Muggle aunt and claimed that the other boy was his cousin Dudley, going as far as insinuating that Dudley was really his half brother and was seeking to destroy Dumbledore for refusing to allow him into Hogwarts. Hermiones promise to send the DMLE everything she'd collected on the gossip monger did little to soothe Harrys anger, the damage to his father reputation had already been done.

At the moment though he was just as curious about this other boy as the rest of the world was, the only difference was that Harry had been there and he knew the details the public had not been told; he had seen the other boy protect Bellatrix, watched him cover her retreat. Whats more he had heard his parting words to Dumbledore clearly. Who did he seek to avenge, and who was Gillert?

Amelia Bones was going to kill whoever was leaking information to _The Prophet_. The media was in already in a frenzy without 'inside sources' throwing more fuel on the flames. The papers were printing two papers daily, one regular edition in the mourning and a special edition each afternoon, the second being dedicated to the return of You-Know-Who, and speculation about the identity and motives of this 'Other Potter'. Talk shows on the wizarding wireless network were not to be outdone and had near constant discussions and criticisms about both topics running twenty four seven; they too seemed to be finding 'inside sources' to provide them with information.

The result of this was countless requests for interviews from the Head of the DMLE, her, as well as a long line of witches and wizards at the front desk claiming to have information and eating up the man power she'd rather be using to chase after you-know-who. Of course she couldn't just ignore them all on the off chance that one of them actually might have some information, but so far they had come up with absolutely nothing.

A knock on her open door drew Amelias attention away from the request for emergency funds she was writing up to see Kingsely Shacklbolt looking at her with a serious expression, "We've got the kid from the atrium in interrogation room three, Williamsons taking a run at him but all the kids done is ask for 'the boss.'"

Amelia was on her feet and walking in an instant, anything to get away from the paperwork, "Got a Name?"

Shacklbolt stepped out of the doorway to allow her to pass before following a step behind her, "he hasn't done anything but ask to speak to you since we found him."

"Who caught him?"

"..." Amelia turned her gaze on the uncomfortable looking man, "We didn't catch him, we just found him in the room ma'am."

"You just, found him?"

"Dawalish went to place a suspect in there and the kid was waiting." he sounded as confused as she felt.

"We'll need to tighten up security, it seems some of us have forgotten we are at war."

"Yes, ma'am."

When they reached interrogation room three Amelia saw a team of four Hit-Wizards standing guard outside. To the left of the interrogation room was a chamber with one way glass to watch interrogations unseen. In this instance there were two senior Aurors watching a one sided questioning through the false mirror, one was Williamson whos face was a study in irritation. A Dicta-Quill in the observation room jotted down ever word said, the page was filled with sarcastic retorts and the occasional standup joke.

"... don't speak up soon your going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble kid." Dawalish was an intimidating man and an excellent interrogator, but it seemed that the lack of response from the younger wizard was wearing on his nerves.

"I'm sorry sir, did you suddenly become the boss when I wasn't paying attention?" The younger wizard seemed entirely unfazed, while the older one looked like he wanted to hit something.

"How long has this been going on?" Amelia asked the assembled Aurors.

"ten minutes," The answer came from the interrogation room, where a set of bright violet eyes were locked directly on her location, "You the boss?"

Amelia was surprised but the other three didn't even bat an eye, "He's been doing that since we got here, don't know how."

"Modified sonorus charm, you really should learn to do a proper bug sweep." he smiled cheekily at the Aurors, his eyes jumping from one of them to the next, clearly displaying knowledge of their locations, "Now, I heard you've been looking to question me. Well, strap your selves in and keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times because I, Leo James Potter-Black, do hereby swear upon my life and magic that I will only speak the truth from now until my departure from this room, by my magic so mote it be."

A small glow enveloped the teen who gave a disarming smile, "I'm am not now, nor have I ever been a follower or supporter of 'Lord Voldemort,'" He added air quotations and rolled his eyes at the name that made most of her senior Aurors flinch, "thought I'd get that one out of the way first. So whats up?"

Amelia had a number of questions run through her head, 'Potter-Black? Bug sweep, what did _bugs_ have to do with anything?', but her professionalism kept her mind on the task at hand. As Dawalish began to rain questions down on the grinning boy, she made her way from the observation room and into the interrogation room itself. "Mr. Potter-Black..."

"Technically the formal address would be Lord Peverell, but _you_ can call me Leo." He raised his left hand to display a gold Signet Ring and winked at her... he _winked_ at her, the _nerve_ of the kid.

She took a moment to bite back a scathing response before continuing, "Lord Peverell," he sighed dramatically, "how is it my Aurors came to find you here?"

"It was my assumption they walked," She wanted to smack the grin off his face, "but If you mean to ask how I got in here without them knowing, the answer is lax security measures." his demeanor became serious so quickly it was startling, "It takes _five_ seconds for a team of two to run through a comprehensive chain of detection spells that would show if a person was under any kind of glamour, carrying concealed weapons or explosives on or within their bodies, carrying any enchanted clothing or items, and even if they were under the effects of any spells or potions. _Five_ seconds would have shown the difference between a drunken wizard and a cleverly disguised infiltrator, but your aurors didn't take five seconds. They cast three spells, took the wand I wanted them to find, and tossed me in the drunk tank without a thought. What if I had been an assassin, what if I had been a suicide bomber, come on," He turned to face the one way mirror with a look of annoyance on his face and jabbed a finger against his temple, "_Think_ people, your, _at,_ _war._"

Amelia drew her wand under the desk and pointed it at him discreetly, her mind reeling from the lecture they'd just received from a child, and the implications of a few of his statements "Are you currently armed?"

"Yes, very much so." His grin was back, even as Dawalish drew his wand like a flash, "This ones a little slow on the uptake isn't he."

"_Accio Wand, Accio Weapons!_" Dawalish got no response to his spell, other then an infuriating shit eating grin.

"_Surely_ you know that spell works on the premise of familiarity, you can hardly summon something if you don't have a clue what it is." He held up a hand to forestall any objections, "Yes that would have worked had they been conventional weapons, but these likely fall outside of your schema for 'weapon' and so your spell failed."

"Schema?"

Leo shook his head at the Aurors question, "I'm not here to lecture on the psychology of spellwork, lets try and keep the questions relevant."

"Dawalish, please search Mr. Peverell and remove any items he may have in his possession," To say Amelia was annoyed would be like saying a nundu was a cat, correct but severely understated. It wasn't just the boys cheeky attitude, but the fact that he was right; Her aurors should be checking people more thoroughly, and Dawalish _had_ been slow on the uptake and sloppy in his response.

Dawalish proceeded to search Leo both physically and magically, as Leo directed the older man to hidden pockets he had missed, meaning all of them. From his person the Auror retrieved two sewing needles, "Goblin steel," a razor thin wire with handles on both ends, a set of black and gold fountain pens, "you _don't_ want to nick yourself on those, they're very poisonous," a pocket watch that swung from its chain by itself, "Nice right," and a bottomless pouch with some form of living vine like purse strings.

"Do you have anything else on you Lord Peverell?"

"I have no more weapons on my person."

Amelia regarded him critically across the table for a moment, "If you are not a supporter of Voldemort, What were you doing in the Ministry atrium on the 18th of June, 1996."

Leos violet eyes literally paled to a near grey, like a thin cloud passing before the sun, "I was there to save someone very close to me... I failed." There was no more jovial attitude, just the serious expression he had displayed before.

"Why don't you explain that in more detail."

"I snuck into the department of mysteries to stop a very _evil_ wizard from killing my... friend, and stealing one or mores orb from the hall of prophecies. During the battle I lost focus, and my friend was thrown through the veil." He paused with a far away look on his face for a second, then two, before his eyes became sharp once more, returning to a deep violet "I went up to the atrium to try and get the man responsible. When I got there he was already fighting someone else, so I let lose with everything I had left hoping to burn the evil bastard while he was distracted. The rest is page one."

"So you were trying to kill you-know-who, you weren't attacking Dumbledore?"

"I was trying to ash a dark lord, a man too dangerous and powerful not to go all out on, the other one just got in the way." Leo leaned back in his uncomfortable chair, lounging in it confidently, like it was his throne.

"Eye witness accounts have you yelling something at Dumbledore before fleeing the scene, what was it that you said to him." Dawalish put in.

"He got in the way, I thought if he hadn't stopped me the world would be down one evil entity, so I may have had words with him, but that's between me and him."

"Mr..."

"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Amelia overrode Dawalish, "My reports say you defended her, if your not one of the dark lords followers then why did you help her?"

Leo looked uncomfortable for a moment, as if he just realized the hard metal chair was not a padded recliner; for the first time since the interview started he looked like he really was just a kid. He answered in a quiet voice, "I thought she was someone else, I didn't want her to get killed in the cross fire."

"You didn't know who she was?" The incredulous tone Dawalish used made the boy flinch, and Amelia caught a hint of sorrow pass over his face. Something was off.

"Who did you think she was?" Amelia watched him squirm when she asked her question, looking down at the floor between his feet as he answered.

"My mother."

The wheels in her head started spinning. Potter-Black, thought she was his mother. "why would you think she was your mother, who was she?"

He sighed in frustration, before his tone became angry "Well who else would I think someone who looks _identical_ to my mother would be, but it doesn't matter, my mother is dead and shes not coming back. Next question."

Amelia was taken off guard by the answer, her hypothesis flying out the window. Still as far as she knew there shouldn't be any Potter-Blacks running around, that would be a marriage every pure blood knew about. Something didn't add up, "You claim to be Leo James Potter-Black..."

"I am." He interrupted his tone still holding its anger from before.

"Would you submit yourself to veritserum to confirm that point?"

Leo looked at her with a level gaze, "veritas supero fides."

"What?"

"It's the password to the bag," he pointed to the pouch which was now laying open, the vines about its top slack, "Within you'll find a list of questions that I will consent to being asked under veritserum. Just hold your hand at the opening and ask it for 'the truth.' I won't consent to any questions not on that list, and if any are asked beyond that list I'll bring you up on charges of theft of the secrets of a most noble and most ancient house."

"Under the war powers act..." Dawalish began.

"You can question under veritserum anyone suspected of being a Death Eater or Death Eater sympathizer however you will find that you have no right to question anyone further if they prove not to be."

"Dawalish, go get the potion."

He left on her orders, grumbling a small amount, returning a short time later with the department potionier. Three drops of the serum were administered and when the suspects eyes took on a glassy look and his body relaxed entirely Amelia began the questioning.

"What is your name?"

"Leo James Potter-Black."

"Are you now or have you ever been a Death Eater?"

"No."

"Are you now or have you ever been a Death Eater sympathizer?"

"No."

They were at the end of the list they could ask under the war powers act, and the list they took from the bag was a short one, many of which had been covered by the questioning under oath already. Amelia proceeded with the list anyways; something had seemed off about his answers before.

"Why did you go to the department of on the 18th of June, 1996."

"To save Luna Lovegood."

She paused, he hadn't given the name before but it sounded familiar. She scanned the table and quickly found the incident report off to her left. She flipped through the file until she found the list of Harry Potters accomplices for the incident. Luna Lovegood was there on the list, reported to have sustained minor injures. She almost asked him about the difference in accounts but remembered it wasn't on the list. A short mental debate decided she could probably get away with asking a follow up question.

"My report says Luna Lovegood was unharmed, why did you tell us your friend was thrown through the veil."

"I saw her go through the veil, thatmust be the other Luna."

"What do you..." The list in her hand burst into flames, issuing forth a great purple smoke that smelled like citrus and stung her eyes. Within moments the room was filled with the smoke and Amelia found herself being dragged out coughing.

The hit wizards didn't wait a second, they quickly cast bubble head charms on themselves and entered the smoky room with their wands up. There were red flashes accompanied by shouts of "_stupify!_" and "_incarerous!_" before Kingsley had the presence of mind to blow the smoke out the vents with a , "_Ventus._"

The smoke cleared to reveal four hit wizards sprawled about the room and a stormy faced young man, "That wasn't on the list." his voice had a bit of a harsh growl to it, whether from the smoke or anger was hard to tell.

"Leo Potter-Black, you are under arrest for..."

"_Enough!_" the walls shook and a wave of magical energy slammed into them all like a tsunami,"You will be_ Silent._ You have just illegally questioned a _lord_ under the influence of _mind altering_ potions and you have the _audacity_ to try and blame _me _for taking measures to _defend_ myself? Are you _truly_ that stupid or is your air of incompetence a clever ruse?" He visibly pulled himself back together and the crushing weight of his magic receded, he continued in a much calmer voice "That vapour will cause coughing and blurry vision to anyone not under the effects of veritserum but is otherwise harmless. It was a vaporized veritserum antidote set to be triggered if _you_ broke the law and tried to abuse your powers." he glared at them but otherwise sounded and appeared clam, "If you plan on leveling some charges against me that aren't a steaming pile of erumpent dung do so now, else I'm leaving."

"The casting of a class five restricted spell," Dawalish stated confidently, "You cast fiend fire, an illegal spell, durring your attack in the atrium."

"I did not cast fiendfire in the atrium, I did however use some familial magic." Familial was the magic word in this case, Amelia ignored her accidental pun, the moment the ministry tried to ban familial magics was the moment the ministry would collapse.

"You are free to go Lord Peverell," Amelia croaked out, aware they couldn't hold him, especially when she realized they had technically stepped out of bound, but not happy about.

"Take down those ridiculous 'wanted for questioning' posters, people keep trying to hex me in the streets." He wandlessly summoned his positions from the desk, "I'll give you three days to take them down, after that you'll be hearing from my lawyers. Good day."

Leo paused as he passed Dawalish, "Nice, right?" the Auror got a blank look on his face.

As Amelia watched him walk away she was struck by an odd epiphany. She moved quickly to check the account of the answers in the room, and as she read the page she came to the passage that sparked her interest, "_A _dark lord, not _the_."

She was distracted when Dawalish began to sing and dance.

Albus Dumbledore was at a loss. This was not an entirely new experience to him, but it had been a long time since he had been so utterly stumped that it was felling quite novel nonetheless. His current quandary came from contemplating what other C sounding words described what other people might consider his more pressing concern. He had tried for nearly an hour to make his alliteration fit, but in his advanced age his mind just wasn't as sharp as it used to be. Thus he settled for quietly contemplating the quandary of the confrontational character who came close to charring... Tom and himself... It just didn't work the way he would like. Nevertheless he would eventually have to stop putting off thinking about the boy and admit to himself he had no clue about that either.

Albus had learned the boys name, Leo James Potter-Black, from his contacts in the ministry, but he had not been able to trace the boys parentage from either the Potters _or_ the Blacks. The fact that the boy was claiming the title of Lord Peverell was also disturbing, as the only living people close enough to stake claim to the Peverells lordship should have been Harry or Tom.

More then just his confusion over the boys heritage, he was also confused about the boys actions; casting a clearly dark incendiary curse and swearing vengeance against him while threatening Gillert, it was a mystery that he could not unravel. Then to complicate thing the boy turns himself into the Aurors to clear his name, sits his O. a week later and applies to attend Hogwarts. What was his angle, was he hoping for a chance at revenge within the walls of the school? His interrogation made it sound like he had attacked Tom but Albus knew he had been the _true_ target of the boys rage, though why the boy would call him 'a dark lord' was beyond him.

He glanced back at the test scores on his desk, as if searching for answers on their pages. O. _and _N.E. in defense, charms, transfiguration, and runes, with top marks in Europe for each. O. in Potions and Arithmancy, with scores in the 90th percentile. Yet he didn't even attempt to get an O.W.L in history or astronomy, two classes the ministry required you to pass before you were allowed to leave school and retain a wand. It was clear that the boy was exceptionally bright, to score top marks in four N.E. at the age fifteen was nothing short of extraordinary, but that he didn't even_ try_ to take those two...

Dumbledore sighed. As matters stood he could not turn him away, not without some sort of criminal conviction on the boys record. Had he O. in History and Astronomy it would be different, but the charter was clear in stating that Hogwarts must accept students who required an education to keep their magic; they could hardly turn away a student if doing so would get the students wand snapped and their magic bound by the ministry. A failure to pay school fees would change matters, but the goblins had already confirmed the necessary fund were waiting for transfer in the Peverell vaults. Even had the boy been a pauper there he would have a free ride scholarship almost anywhere in the world with marks like his.

He pushed the papers aside and quickly penned an acceptance letter for the young lord, only the first year letters wrote themselves, and placed it in the outbound drawer of his desk. The letter would be sent to Minervas desk to be mailed with the rest of the acceptance letters later in the summer.

Albus stood from his desk and moved to stand by his window. In his youth he would have paced, but he lacked the need to_ move_ that compelled him in his youth. The restless energy of summer days was but a memory now; he was in the winter of his life. His bones were cold and the fire in his heart burned low. The fiery passions of young love had faded from him, and in his loneliness he had grown cold. A small amount of affection existed in him for his young charges, but it was a dull warmth that was tainted by some traces of jealousy when he saw what he would never again have.

It was the wars that had reduced his flames to embers. When his students had become his soldiers, and then his soldiers had become his pawns, that was when he had reached the winters heart. When Harry had returned to Hogwarts he had let himself grow close to the boy, against his better judgment he let himself care about him, but now he remembered the boy was just another piece, not a pawn but a piece all the same; he would still need to be sacrificed to take the king.

"For the greater good." The words sounded hollow to his heart but his mind knew them to be true.

Soon there would be a new piece on the board. The question now was black or white? That question though could wait another day, he had a ring to retrieve.

"Fawkes." The phoenix swooped from his perch to answer his call. He caught hold of one of its tail feathers as the flaming bird trilled loudly; for just a moment he felt a warmth he could no longer feel on his own, then he disappeared in a flash of flames.


End file.
